You can pair the Remedy with the DAC of your choice and transform your favorite digital source into a truly audiophile-worthy component.

The Remedy works well with the Sonos Connect, AppleTV, iPod docks, Airport Express and more. I used mine to play my music through a NAS and from my iPhone6 via a Pure docking station. The installation is a snap: Source Device>>>Remedy>>>DAC (either a stand alone DAC or one in a processor).

Highlights

Wyrd4Sound Remedy Re-Clocker

Simple setup; set it and forget it

Greatly improves imaging and sound stage<

Removes jitter before it gets to the DAC

Upsamples all digital input signals to 96 kHz

Introduction

I guess that this would be a good time to explain what jitter is and what it can do to your music. Jitter can be defined as the undesired deviation from an ideal periodic timing signal from your source device to your DAC. Jitter may be observed in characteristics such as the frequency, phase, or amplitude of successive pulses. High levels of jitter can result in significant undesired system behavior in high-performance applications.

All of that is a fancy way of saying it can smear the soundstage and make your digital music sound glaring and fatiguing. Now, this leads us to the next question of the femto re-clocking device.

WYRED4SOUND RE-CLOCKER REVIEW SPECIFICATIONS

Utilizes:

An incredible Femto-grade clock

Superior:

Jitter Reduction

Toslink and Coaxial:

Digital Inputs

Toslink:

Coaxial, BNC Digital Outputs

96kHz Output:

Sampling Frequency*

Digital Inputs:

Support Up to 24/192kHz

9VDC Power:

Supply Included

5 Year:

Warranty

MSRP:

$399

Company:

SECRETS Tags:

Wyred4Sound, Remedy, Toslink, Femto, re-clocking,

Design and Setup

A femto clock is an advanced, high-performance clock-frequency synthesizers. Employing a simple, low-cost, fundamental-mode quartz crystal as the low frequency reference these devices synthesize high-quality, low-jitter clock signals with less than 0.5 ps of RMS phase noise, up to 1.3 GHz. (The term “femto” comes from a Danish word meaning “fifteen”, so it is expressed as .000000000000001).

Thus, the Remedy takes the digital input from your digital source, re-clocks at 96 kHz and sends it to you DAC for conversion back to an analog signal. This incoming signal then has extremely low jitter and because it has a higher sample rate, the filter used to convert it into an analog signal is pushed way beyond the range of human hearing (theoretically, anything above 44.1 kHz).

Once jitter enters your DAC, it cannot be removed. So why 96 kHz? Wyred 4 Sound decided that in order to make this device play nicely with most DACs out there, 96 kHz is a sample rate that gets the job done and is compatible most modern DACs on the market.

Now remember, the output is a fixed SR, so if you are using a higher sample rate (you know, those files you got from HDtracks at 196 kHz), it will be down sampled and output at 96 kHz. The Remedy can accept Toslink or digital coaxial. I reviewed this product using only the coax as SR greater than 96 kHz can be a problematic with Toslink and I wanted to throw everything I had at the Remedy.

In Use

Tony Holt sent SECRETS a Remedy and a Sonos Connect for this review. My initial set up with the Connect went a bit wonky and I was only able to access the music on my iPhone. For whatever reason, I could not get the Connect to “see” my NAS. I opted to replace the Connect completely and ran my entire music collection from my Western Digital My Cloud NAS (2TB) through my OPPO BDP-103, then finally into my Emotiva UMC-200 pre/pro.

This worked well because I have a lot of high resolution files on my NAS and with the OPPO Media App, I was able to play back sections of music for immediate comparison on my iPhone. I just love convenience!

My pre/pro was connected to the OPPO via digital coax (Zu Audio Firemine) inputs. Thus, I have My Cloud Cat6>>>Oppo 103 coax>>>Remedy coax>>>UMC-200. I also have BD discs, DVD-A and CDs that I ran through the Remedy, thus the OPPO was more practical for me to use than a Sonos Connect. I could also play a CD directly through the Remedy via coax from the OPPO for direct sound comparisons. With a simple button push, I could switch the input through my UMC-200 and listen for any change in the sound quality.

I know that this seems like a lot of work, but it really was not. The Remedy is so simple to put into you audio chain that it doesn’t even come with instructions. On the inside of the box it comes in is a simple diagram pointing out the inputs and outputs on the Remedy. It comes with a 9v wall wart for power and when you turn it on, the white wavy design on the top lights up and turns blue when it receives an incoming signal.

The Remedy has auto detect, thus when presented with an audio signal it come on automatically and shuts off after a few minutes of signal loss. Pretty much once you set it up; you can stick it behind your components and forget it is there. Are you still with me? So I now have a way to play digital music into the Remedy, or by pass the Remedy and compare the sound quality. From my iPhone, I can back up and replay the music clips as often as I want to with the swipe of my finger.

Now, keep in mind, the Remedy is not a DAC. Its job is to re-clock the sample rate of all incoming digital signals to 96 kHz. It does not manipulate bits. My tests are designed to see if that process improves, degrades or does nothing audible at all to the signal. Here we go:

The re-clocked up sampled stream always sounded more open with better separation and increased sound stage. When listening to Linda Ronstadt singing “Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind”, the backup Gospel choir was more expansive, both in depth of field as well as side to side. I can see why someone might think that they are hearing more detail, but nothing is being added that already was not in the recording.

However, the expanded sound field could trick you into thinking that you are hearing new things. This is an excellent recording that captures the “fat” sound the engineer was going for. Lots of space and atmosphere with warm, deep bass. I noticed better bass definition with the Remedy, too. Overall the music just opened up and sounded more fleshed out and dimensional. If you listen to a lot of CDs or stream at this SR, I think you are going to love the Remedy! Classical music also benefited.

Kronos “Five Tango Sensations”

The Kronos Quartet opened up enough to give the players some more elbow room. Orchestras become deeper and wider. Over the several weeks I used the Remedy, I cannot think of a single time it did not make the music more enjoyable and engaging.

2. 48 kHz/24 bit>>>Remedy: Here I played a recording of artists doing music from Weather Report. I learned one lesson quickly. Do not send multi-channel to the Remedy as loud static burst will ensue.

Weather Report “Weather Report”

In stereo though, I still give the edge to the Remedy as it still sounded more expansive. Listening to music from my NAS in 48 kHz, the expanded sound was subtle, but still noticeable in a quick comparison. You really wont know what you are missing until you do a side by side comparison.

Who “Quadrophenia”

3. 96 kHz/24bit and up>>>Remedy: Now here is where I could not easily detect any audible difference. I played Quadrophenia (Pure Audio), King Crimson (re-mastered by Steve Wilson), a few AIFF files and classical selections from one of the best high resolution discs on the market (IMHO) from the Scandinavian label 2L.

King Crimson “In the Court of the Crimson King”

I almost always favored the 192 kHz recording over the down sampled version through the Remedy. Both versions sounded fine, by the higher SR version had a touch more open air and bite. On a few instances, the music sounded the same with the Remedy engaged or not; so it became a toss up.

In my opinion, down sampling is almost always deleterious to the music, but if your source device is prone to higher amounts of jitter, you may well prefer the music going through the Remedy before reaching your DAC.

Conclusions

THE WYRED4SOUND Remedy offers Superior Sound and Jitter Reduction.

Likes

Simple setup

Expansive sound stage

Small footprint

Would Like To See

A multi-channel version

I had no preconceived notions about the effects of jitter on my listening experience. Frankly, I assumed I had no jitter problems, and I certainly had no idea what to expect from a device like the Remedy. The device is simple to incorporate into you sound chain and I must confess that it can improve the sound of your music. It doesn’t reveal sounds you “have never heard before” or “lift a veil” from your speakers, but it does open your music up and give it some room to breathe.

What I am left with is a question, though. Is the sound stage improvement due to the reduction of jitter or is it due to the increased SR? Maybe both. I have no definitive answer to that question, but perhaps I don’t need one. The Remedy works well for any music below or at its sample rate of 96 kHz. Above that, you probably will want to stick to the native higher SR. I would think that most streaming services are well below 96 kHz and the “ less than audiophile quality” source devices probably contain more jitter, so this product should make a noticeable improvement. If you have a vast CD collection, I think that this is a no brainer.

If you’re streaming from a device that has a DAC that is not top notch, jitter could still be a real issue for you. For me though, most of my music is already at a higher SR and a lot of my music listening is in multi-channel, which the Remedy cannot handle. Still, I liked what the Remedy did with my robust CD collection. I have invested a lot of time and money into it and the Remedy improved the sound and thus my enjoyment of the music. ..and that is worth something in my book. If your music is sounding dull and lifeless lately, this Remedy may be your cure.

Nice review, Jim! Your conclusions pretty much match mine: the device “improves” the sound of recordings at or below Redbook CD quality, but little to no improvement for 96/24 and 192/24.

Kelly Williamson

What a load of nonsense – I scoff at your ridiculous review. The only point of this “product” is to fleece naive and ignorant consumers and turn a profit for its manufacturers. Shame on you for perpetuating this lunacy.

Jim Milton

So you have listened to this product extensively and it did not meet your expectations? I’m sorry to hear that. They carry a money back guarantee, though, so you are in luck.

Kelly Williamson

I did not need to purchase this to know there would be no improvement in sound quality there Jim. Just like I don’t need to spend 10k on a power cable either.

BlockerBrothers

You have a lot to say for someone who hasn’t even taken the time to try it or look at the technical reasons behind why these do in fact work. You are basically saying jitter does not exist and therefore does not need to be addressed which is comical at best. Master clock, servo, conversion, logic buffering and digital cables themselves can all cause jitter and that is only a few.

You are also saying that Wyred4Sound is out to rip people off and again that is just comical if not downright stupid. A quick Google search shows that these guys are anything but crooks and are highly respected with what they do.

Best you run along now and let the big boys have a civil conversation without your delusional ramblings.

Kelly Williamson

Well, you should know about delusional ramblings. I stand by my original post – the emperor is not wearing any clothes and you know it. So, do you think you could consistently identify whether this “component” was or was not in use in a blind listening test? Lol – I’ll let you big boys civilly discuss that among yourselves.

BlockerBrothers

I’m delusional? I have actually spent the time looking into jitter, what it is, what does it impact and so on. You on the other hand have no knowledge of the product and clearly no knowledge on the topic at hand, but yet you ramble on about something you know nothing about.

Attempting to reference Andersen was also cute, but also pointless as the reference makes zero sense in this instance. That is, unless you are talking about yourself? Are you unfit, stupid, or incompetent?

If you are going to insist on posting (which I’m guessing you are) at the very least bring something useful to the conversation. Prove the reviewer wrong with something factual…..dare ya.

Kelly Williamson

Whoah – insults now! Not very civil there . . . So, you are saying you would be able to consistently identify when this device was or was not in use in a blind listening test? Of course you can’t. That, sir, is a fact.

BlockerBrothers

Insults? You lost me? I simply asked a question based on your own Anderson reference. You opened the door, I simply walked through it. You might want to look into it a little as once you do, you should (might) get where I was going with it.

As for your final question, yes, I can tell, but of more importance here (keeping in mind you started all of this) can you? We will never know, however, as your comments are based off what you think versus actual time spent with the item in question.

I’m commenting based on knowledge and experience. At the end of the day they are my own thoughts and opinions, but I at the very least have stated them based on my time looking into jitter and trying various products that attempt to correct it (including this one). You on the other hand……have done squat with the one exception being constantly post what you think versus what you actually know.

Kelly Williamson

Lol – I have to laugh at how seriously you take your own self-deceipt. There are numerous documented controlled experiments where “golden eared” audiophiles failed to consistently identify cost-no-object (amplifiers, cables, etc) from anything else. As far as your “at the end of the day . . . my own thoughts and opinions” narrative – The first paragraph of this article says “This compact advanced digital re-clocking device removes digital errors and dramatically improves jitter utilizing a femto-grade clock. The Remedy up samples all incoming digital signals to 96kHz, and reduces timing errors (jitter) that cause your music to sound unfocused and harsh.” Marketing . . . marketing . . . marketing . . . BS. Lol, You can’t prove this improves anything but the companies profits and you know it.

BlockerBrothers

Almost five days later and that is the best you could do? When you are ready to speak from actual experience and put your money where your mouth is, let me know. Do you even own a stereo? Just so we are clear here, when I say stereo, I don’t mean an iPod. 🙂

Kelly Williamson

I have two systems – one for music

Kelly Williamson

And one for movies

BlockerBrothers

Pictures weren’t necessary as I would have taken your word for it and honestly I really don’t care what you may or may not have as it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. I’m guessing you are one of those who likes to show off. To each their own. Nice looking systems anyway. Music one is more up my alley as it looks like a nice cozy room to sit down and chill out in. Not a fan of Emotiva on any level as the stuff was problematic for me at the best of times, but that is another story. So now that you are done showing off, you going to put your money where your mouth is and try the thing or just keep rambling and posting pictures?

Kelly Williamson

The XPA-5 Amp is the only Emotiva piece I own – and it has been quite robust. My initial position is unchanged – there is no justification or relevant rationale to recommend anyone purchase the WYRED4SOUND Remedy thingy.

1. Jitter from modern equipment already very low. Thus as others have suggested, arguable that it’s even audible. After all these years, no good demonstration of audible jitter unless extreme.

2. What is the quality of the upsampling/downsampling algorithm being implemented here to get everything to 96kHz? Realize that 44.1/88.2kHz samplerates are being upsampled to a non-integer factor with this device.

For $400, would have been more impressive if there’s at least a way for this to detect the base frequency and perhaps output at either 88.2/96kHz if desired. Even better since it accepts up to 192kHz, provide upsampling/reclocking to 176.4/192kHz so as not to downsample hi-res files.

Lewis Besze

People still chasing the jitter dragon. As pointed out these days that’s hardly an issue, nor it ever was compared to the limitation of analog playback formats, or the ever remaining weakest link of any system: Speakers. One can also throw in the room acoustics as most of us don’t have correctly treated place to listen let alone truly evaluate individual components .But no worries, there is always the entertainment value of such writeups.

Jim Milton

In fairness, the Remedy is best suited for streaming devices or laptops which have notoriously high jitter compared to more “audiophile” equipment. I found it to improve upon 44.1/16 sound quality. The improvement was not subtle to me, however YMMV.

S. Fish

Hello Kelly, I read the thread above with interest. I think with a bit of understanding of how music is digitized and re-assembled for listening may help you to appreciate the remedy reclocker. I have one on order so haven’t yet heard it but I can tell you from previous experience of upgrading clocks in CDPs that it can make a huge difference. The accuracy of the clock will determine the accuracy of the time space between samples. Jitter is the measure of how variable that time space is. For a 44 kHz sample rate, the time between samples should be 2273 pico seconds (millionths of a second). An Apple TV, for example, has a jitter of approx. 530 psec.This means that the sample time may move around it’s theoretical time point by plus or minus 530 psec. That’s an error of up to 23%. With that type of error, you can picture in your head what it does to the signal. Instead of being able to reconstruct the music accurately, you end up with an approximation of the original music signal along with a high frequency noise overlay. The reclocker simply takes in the stream of samples and reclocks them so that they are more accurately spaced. It also then up samples the signal to 96khz or one sample every 1042 psec. According to the website, the Remedy Reclocker has a jitter of 87 psec or a 4% error vs. the 23% error of the raw signal from the Apple tv. My experience in the past was with a mod to my Onix CDP. I replaced the clock circuitry with a much more accurate clock circuitry bringing my jitter from around 500 psec to 80 psec and there was a very discernible difference. This was 44 kHz 16 bit with no up sampling as with the Remedy Reclocker. In your case, you would have a Rega CDP with 380 psec jitter being improved and up sampled before going to your DAC. The re-clocking will give you an improvement from 17% error coming out of the Rega to the 4% timing error coming out to the Remedy. That’s probably a significant enough change to hear a difference with your gear. As the author pointed out, he heard less improvement depending on the equipment combinations and the original sampling rates. Also, the quality of the recording and quality of the clocks in the analog to digital converters used during the recording process will make a difference (garbage in/garbage out). I’ll let you know my experience when I get the unit.

Jim Milton has been interested in high fidelity since his college years in the late 70's. It was there that he first became interested in classical music. He has been part of choral music, both in opera and oratorio and is an avid collector of classical music from the Baroque through the Romantic periods. He enjoys an occasional night at Boston Symphony Hall or attending an organ concert at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, ME. Currently he is the director of Nuclear Medicine at the North Shore Medical Center, located just outside of Boston. He also serves as an adjunct professor for Salem State University where he teaches a course in nuclear instrumentation. During his leisure time, he enjoys listening to his music collection and an occasional movie with his wife of 30+ years. Living on the longest stretch of sandy beach north of Boston offers him plenty of opportunities to take a relaxing stroll or soak up some sun. "Remember, acquiring good A/V gear takes lots of time...but doesn't necessarily take lots of money."

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